1,800 Killed in Afghan Earthquake

MICHELLE BOORSTEIN

Published 6:00 pm, Monday, March 25, 2002

Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ An earthquake devastated mountain villages in northern Afghanistan, where officials on Tuesday estimated at least 1,800 people died and thousands more were injured in a region already hard-hit by hunger, drought and war.

At the scene, the military commander from the Baglan region said the Monday night quake collapsed 20,000 mud-brick houses. Gen. Haider Khan estimated between 600 and 1,000 people remained trapped and said the death toll could hit 2,000.

Yusuf Nuristani, a government spokesman, told reporters in Kabul that the death toll had reached 1,800 by Tuesday afternoon with 2,000 injured. Kabul television later reported 5,000 hurt. In Geneva, U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said Afghan authorities had initially reported the death toll could reach 4,800.

Aid agencies said thousands _ perhaps tens of thousands _ were homeless, as aftershocks continued to jolt the majestic Hindu Kush mountains that tower above Kabul and separate the capital from the extreme north of the country.

There were fears of landslides as the earth continued to heave after the Monday night quake, which was centered about 105 miles north of Kabul.

No Americans or foreigners were known to be among the missing or dead. Brig. Gen. John Rosa Jr. told a Pentagon briefing that no coalition forces were hurt by the quake.

The old part of Nahrin town was leveled and some 40 other villages on Nahrin plain were affected, prompting aid groups to gear up to provide shelter for 6,000 to 7,000 families in that area alone, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Alemida e Silva said.

"These people were hit by 20 years of war, three to four years of drought and now comes the earthquake," said Mirielle Borne, an aid worker with the independent agency ACTED who arrived in the stricken town as night fell Tuesday.

"It just keeps piling up. They just take it as it comes. It's a matter of holding on to the next day."

Immediate concerns included getting water, food and shelter to the area, where 80 percent of the families had been targeted before the quake to receive wheat from the World Food Program.

Borne said she expected villagers from even more remote regions to arrive in district centers by donkey or on foot in coming days, seeking help and bringing word of additional damage and casualties.

The only good news, she said, was the weather. "It is cold, but there is no rain or snow, and people are either sleeping at relatives homes or are sheltering in the rubble."

An aftershock hit the region Tuesday evening, reinforcing fears of going back inside poorly constructed houses. Many people were sleeping outdoors, the U.N. spokesman said, with temperatures expected to remain above freezing, in the 40s.

"The water situation is an issue of concern. However, the river is still flowing and villagers have access to it," the spokesman said.

Afghan Defense Ministry official Mira Jan said 600 bodies had been recovered. Kabul television reported that 12,000 yards of white cloth had been sent to wrap the dead from the second fatal earthquake in the area this month.

Many people in the rural region were at home when the quake struck about 7:30 p.m. Monday, accounting for the high death toll, officials said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was relatively shallow _ about 3 miles beneath the surface _ meaning it had the power to cause more damage.

"People were caught in their homes," said Nigel Fisher, a senior U.N. official in Afghanistan.

Many people from the region had fled drought and conflict into Pakistan and had not returned to their homes. "In a sense it's lucky there weren't more people there," Fisher said.

With the scope of the disaster only becoming apparent a day later, the Baglan provincial military commander, Gen. Khan, said he was shaken by the tragic scenes as he toured the area.

In one village, Khan said he came across workers pulling 10 members of a single family from the ruins. Only one family member, an 11-year-old boy, survived and was being cared for by relatives.

"It was very, very difficult for me to look at this," Khan said.

Many roads were impassable, and six Afghan army helicopters were flown to the region to remove the dead and transport immunization experts, medical kits and officials. The U.S. Army, the international peacekeeping force and aid agencies were mobilizing aid and experts.

Doctors Without Borders joined ACTED in the quake region Tuesday. ACTED has distributed half of the 1,000 tents and 2,000 blankets it has available and said 1,500 additional tents and 1,500 portable shelters were being sent in. Mobile medical teams from Doctors Without Borders, meanwhile, treated 160 injured, evacuating the most critical cases to Pul-e-Kurmi, Byrs said.

Officials in Kabul said the World Food Program was sending 175 tons of food. The United Nations and the European Commission also were rushing in aid.

The quake, the second to hit the Hindu Kush mountains in three weeks, created huge challenges for the new interim government. It has struggled to establish its authority in the fractious nation and encourage the return of refugees to rebuild the country after the defeat of the Taliban.

The government allocated the equivalent of $600,000 for immediate emergency assistance, and pledged $147 to families of those killed and $88 for families who suffered injuries, Nuristani said. "The administration is doing the best it can."

He said the quake was magnitude 6.2. The USGS measured it at 6.1 with an overnight aftershock of 5.0.

"I can say that 90 percent of Nahrin has been destroyed," Jan said. "We asked (peacekeepers) and all other humanitarian non-governmental organizations to help the people there because they lost everything. They need tents, medicines, everything."

By late afternoon, about 400 people had been wrapped in white cotton shrouds and buried _ some in mass graves _ in and around Nahrin, said Nurullah, a spokesman for commander Khan.

"The condition is very terrible," Nurullah said. "The people are in a very bad condition."

About 200 of the injured were taken to Pul-e-Kumri and Baglan by helicopter, bus and trucks, while some 70 people were treated in Nahrin. But Gen. Khalil, a military commander from Pul-e-Kumri, said they didn't have enough helicopters to transport all the injured.

Khalil said he had seen no houses standing in Nahrin, and that the stench of decomposing bodies was permeating the quake area.

"Everyone is trying to find the members of their families to bring them out of the destroyed walls or collapsed areas," Khalil said.

The U.S. Army at Bagram air base, about 60 miles from the quake's epicenter, sent an assessment team to see if American troops could play a role in rescue and recovery efforts, said spokesman Maj. Bryan Hilferty.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said because the United States already was involved in food relief and other humanitarian work in Afghanistan it had sufficient supplies on hand to take care of people in the earthquake zone.

"We're in there," Boucher said. "There are people working in the region and we're doing the assessments on what more is needed."

He said the United States was working with U.N. organizations and nongovernment agencies in the relief effort.

A White House official, speaking anonymously, said the adminstration was "very sympathetic to this tragedy" and "we are ready and willing to help."

Earthquakes and seismic activity are common in the Hindu Kush mountains. Strong quakes in February and May of 1998 killed nearly 10,000 people.